The Billabong Pro is going down in Tahiti right soon, and the waves
are going off! The riders are catching Teahupo’o, notoriously one of the
most dangerous waves in the world.

Surfing? Dangerous? You just fall in a bit of water if you bail,
right? Wrong! There’s reef, boards, debris and all kinds of bad stuff in
the water, just waiting to fuck you up.

In honour of this high risk, high reward comp, we’ve searched for the gnarliest surf injuries around.

Here’s a shot taken surgery, where she needed 51 stitches.

Owner of the Mr Surfy cafe on Polzeath
beach in Cornwall, Steve got scalped by some other guy's board. “This
guy just bailed…. jumping off his board sent it flying straight at me.”
said the Cornwall native.

This dude almost had his heel completely sliced off by a fin.

This fella's grin suggests he still has the endorphins pumping almost as much as the blood.

The fin on this chaps board caught his
leg. Luckily, it missed two tendons, and artery, and a main nerve by
just a few millimetres.

Eight hours of surgery was required to save this dude's eye after he caught it with his fin.

The fella who sustained these reef slices
did do on a pretty calm day. It just goes to show that while waves may
come and go, the reef is constant.

It’s bad enough splitting your skull on
the sea bed, but then the medics come along and use 12 staples to patch
you back together!